


when push comes to shove

by Tea_For_One_Please



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Healthy Relationships, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29275560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea_For_One_Please/pseuds/Tea_For_One_Please
Summary: Carlos is concerned about the forthcoming read-through for 'Beauty and the Beast', but when Seb has a nasty encounter with a senior boy, it's driven from his mind entirely.
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	when push comes to shove

“Morning.” Carlos nearly slams his locker shut with fright as someone hugs him from behind, and he’s suddenly aware of the familiar coconut aroma of Seb’s shampoo as his boyfriend rests his head on his shoulder.

“You’re going to kill me one of these days,” Carlos remarks by way of reply, and Seb giggles as he tilts his head to kiss Carlos on the cheek.

“I hope you know how much that would inconvenience me,” Seb says sincerely as he unwraps his arms from Carlos’ waist and leans back against the lockers.

He starts to hum strains of the tune from ‘Don’t Rain on my Parade’, and Carlos rolls his eyes. “Have you been watching _Glee_ again?”

“No,” Seb protests, “it’s just a good song.” Carlos fights to suppress a smile, but Seb’s looking at him with such affection and mischief that he quickly relents, and leans over to kiss him – if only to shut him up.

“Why are you so happy today?”

“I got Lumière,” he replies, furrowing his brow like it’s obvious.

“Seb, the cast list was posted, like, three days ago!”

“And today’s the first read-through! Aren’t _you_ excited?”

Carlos bites his lip. Truth be told, he’s a little apprehensive: his first stint as student choreographer was… rocky, to say the least, although the cast (probably) won’t have to deal with the potential deposition of their teacher this time around, which should make things easier. He’s also desperately hoping the cast will have a little more faith in his creative decisions this time around.

Besides, for the choreographer, the read-through isn’t anywhere near as much fun as it is for everyone else. The cast read their lines, the stage manager reads the stage directions, so there’s really nothing for him to do. He can’t even play the piano for the songs; that said, on this front he has scored his first major victory for the show, having convinced Miss Jenn to let the actors sing their own songs, rather than doing it herself. Nevertheless, he’s more looking forward to the rehearsals starting for real than for the read-through this afternoon. But he is a professional amateur, and he will grin and bear it, if only for Seb’s sake.

“Yes, I’m excited,” he replies, and Seb wraps him in another hug with a gleeful squeak. “Now come on, we’re going to be late for homeroom.”

“Can we sit together?” Seb asks as they start walking.

“What, in homeroom? Of course.”

“No, I mean at the read-through.”

Carlos grimaces. “I wouldn’t hold your breath. I was able to fix it last time, but it depends how organised Miss Jenn is.”

At this, Seb gives him a funny look. “What do you mean, ‘fix it’?”

Carlos blushes scarlet, having spoken without thinking. “I, uh, may have been creative when Miss Jenn asked me to place the name cards.”

“But we weren’t even dating then,” Seb replies, looking highly amused.

Carlos can feel his ears burning with embarrassment. “No, I know.”

“You liked me,” Seb teases, slipping a finger under his boyfriend arms to jab him in the ribs. “You _liked_ me.”

“Seb, stop it,” Carlos says, trying not to shriek as Seb pokes at a particularly ticklish spot. “ _Stop_ it!”

“Admit it.”

“Okay,” Carlos laughs, seizing Seb’s hand and holding it firmly down by their sides. “Okay, I liked you. Happy?”

“Completely,” he replies, suddenly a lot more gently.

Carlos squeezes his hand and glances towards their homeroom, where the class is still lining up outside. He hears a gasp, then Seb collides with him, knocking him off his gait. He glances over, and Seb is staring mutinously at the group of seniors that just walked past them. “What happened?”

“One of them shoved me.” Seb’s reply is quiet, but Carlos can tell he’s angry. He turns to look as well, and sees the seniors laughing as they wander away; one of them points back at Carlos and Seb, and Carlos is sure he hears a rather nasty slur drift through the air in their direction.

As the two boys watch them go, one boy turns his head back around and offers them an apologetic grimace, and Carlos’ jaw drops. “That’s _EJ_!”

“Yeah.”

“Was he the one who shoved you?” Carlos asks furiously. “Because if he did, I swear to God I will go to Miss Jenn and have him kicked out of the show, I don’t even care.”

“It wasn’t him,” Seb says quickly. “It was one of his water polo friends.” He spits the last word, and pulls Carlos towards the homeroom line, where Gina catches their eye and quickly reads the room.

“You guys okay?” she asks, clearly concerned, but keeping her voice casual.

“Yeah,” Seb mutters, as Carlos says, “No,” and shoots Seb an exasperated look.

“What happened?”

“One of EJ’s friends shoved Seb,” Carlos says, before Seb can dismiss it. “Probably because he saw us holding hands.”

“You need to tell someone,” she says immediately. “Like, right now, while it’s fresh in your minds.”

“No,” Seb insists, sounding more forceful than Carlos has ever heard him. “Just… no.”

At that moment, their teacher ushers them in, and Carlos decides to let the matter drop. “Fine,” he hisses, “but we’re putting a pin in this.”

* * *

Despite sharing the majority of their classes, Carlos doesn’t bring it up again until they’re sitting in the bomb shelter waiting for Miss Jenn to start the read-through.

“Just answer me this,” Carlos says as gently as he can, “why don’t you want to report him? Whoever that guy is, he could get into a lot of trouble if the faculty thought he was committing an act of prejudicial aggression.”

Seb gives him a withering look. “Did you swallow a law textbook?” Carlos doesn’t rise to this, and Seb sighs. “It’s just… with EJ playing Beast, he and I are going to be spending a lot of time together over the next few months. I don’t… really like EJ all that much, and I definitely don’t want to be the guy who ratted out his friend, you know?”

“Seb, that’s…”

He’s about to say _ridiculous_ , but suddenly checks himself. He, personally, doesn’t think EJ’s a bad guy (after all, he did _look_ apologetic earlier), but he does have a history of being, well, a little bit underhand. And sure, he’s been nicer since _High School Musical_ , but Seb has a point: you never know. And even if he’s wrong, he doesn’t want to say anything that will invalidate Seb’s fairly reasonable concerns.

“That’s understandable,” he says instead, slipping a hand into Seb’s and squeezing it. “But if we don’t speak up about this, this guy’s going to go about his week thinking that it’s okay.”

“I know,” he admits. “I just really want this show to go well.”

“So do I,” Carlos says firmly, “but that won’t happen if you’re flinching every time EJ or one of his friends comes within six feet of you.” Seb nods, and attempts a brave smile. “Can I go tell Miss Jenn?” Carlos asks, and Seb bites his lip before nodding again. “Thank you,” Carlos says, swooping in to kiss Seb on the cheek before marching away.

Seb watches him go, and his vision drifts to the seat with the card marked _Prince Adam / Beast_ , where EJ seems to be trying to catch his eye. As Seb meets his gaze, EJ slides out of the desk and jogs over, and Seb braces himself.

“Hi,” he says awkwardly, trying to remain civil.

“Hey,” EJ says, looking even more uncomfortable than Seb feels. “I just wanted to apologise for what happened this morning. It wasn’t cool.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Seb replies shortly.

“I shouldn’t have let him say that.”

“But you did.” His voice remains light, but the words make EJ cringe.

“Yeah, I did.” An unpleasant silence hangs in the air. “I’ll say something next time, it just kind of… took me by surprise. I didn’t know he was like that.” Seb still doesn’t say anything, so EJ goes on. “For the record, I just want to let you know I think it’s awesome that you and Carlos are gay together – ”

“Yikes,” Seb mutters with a wince.

“ – and that I hope we’re still cool.”

“Sure,” Seb sighs, “as long as you don’t blame me if your buddy ends up getting suspended, or whatever.”

“Is that likely?” EJ asks, alarmed.

“I mean, if Carlos has his way, he’d be strung up by his…” Seb huffs out a laugh. “Well, you get the idea. There were eyewitness, I think you can expect to lose a teammate for a few weeks. Hope that’s okay,” he finishes, a little lamely.

“Sure,” EJ says after a moment. “I guess he has it coming. Anyway, I’m sorry, dude. Like I said, it wasn’t cool.” He holds out a hand, which Seb reluctantly shakes.

EJ wanders off as Carlos returns, glaring at him as he approaches. “Miss Jenn says she’ll file a report after the read-through,” he says, sounding satisfied, “and that she’ll be asking EJ for the name of the guy who did it. Did you guys talk it out?” he asks, sounding surprised.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Seb shrugs. “I guess I didn’t have to worry after all.”

“Still, it’s good to know that, right?” Carlos says, and Seb nods. “Oh, by the way, I probably wasn’t allowed to do this, but I don’t think Miss Jenn’s going to complain given the circumstances.” From his jacket pocket, he pulls out the two name cards reading _Lumière_ and _Choreographer_ , and places them on adjacent desks with a grin.

“Nice one,” Seb says, managing a genuine smile for the first time since homeroom.

“Boyfriend of the year award,” Carlos says sincerely, pointing to himself to make Seb laugh. His boyfriend chuckles and leans forward and briefly presses his lips against Carlos’, before pulling him towards their desks. Maybe, Carlos reflects, there are aspects of a read-through that a choreographer can look forward to after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! Feel free to leave a comment, or come and shout at me on Tumble (@tea-for-one-please) and tell me your thoughts!


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